Ukrainian, Hungarian foreign ministers reach important agreements at meeting in Bratislava / Photo from UNIAN

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and his Hungarian counterpart, Péter Szijjártó, have reached a number of important agreements at a meeting in Bratislava.

"In our meeting in Bratislava, Hungarian FM Szijjártó and I agreed to continue dialogue on education and minorities with due respect to Ukraine's national legislation. We'll also conclude an agreement on mutual recognition of vaccination certificates to allow our citizens to travel safely," Kuleba wrote on Twitter on May 13, 2021.

"Glad that Péter accepted my invitation to visit Donbas after Hungary assumes chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe this May," the Ukrainian minister tweeted.

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On May 12-13, 2021, Kuleba is taking part in the Central 5 meeting of the foreign ministers of European countries, including Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.

Read alsoSzijjártó hopes to mend relations between Kyiv and BudapestUkraine-Hungary diplomacy: Recent developments

  • Relations between Ukraine and Hungary deteriorated after the adoption of a new law on education by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in the autumn of 2017.
  • Hungary has been blocking NATO-Ukraine Commission (NUC) meetings, claiming that the rights of Hungarians living in Ukraine have been violated by provisions of the law, which determines that the official language, Ukrainian, should be the language of instruction at education institutions.
  • On February 24, 2021, Kyiv hosted a constituent meeting of the Ukrainian-Hungarian interdepartmental working group on education. The participants of the meeting reached mutual understanding regarding common intentions to provide high-quality conditions for receiving school education by Ukrainians of Hungarian origin in Zakarpattia region.
  • On February 25, 2021, Kuleba said Hungary was ready to discuss with Ukraine the implementation of the provisions of the educational law, taking into account the interests of the Hungarian minority.